The first team at N.C. State this season to appear on ESPN won’t be the football team. Nor will it be the basketball team. Instead, two members of the Bass fishing club, which calls itself BassPack, will represent State in the College Smash-Mouth Bass Fishing Championship on the Arkansas River in Pine Bluff, Ark.
Alex Freeman and Garid Church are towing a boat down to Pine Bluff today to compete in the tournament that will air on ESPNU in late September. BassPack, in its second year and trying to earn full membership with Club Sports, is ranked No. 14 nationally going into the tournament, according to Collegebass.com
“To the club, this means a lot of publicity, especially if we make it to the final five,” club president Bryce McClenney said. “It’ll mean a lot of exposure for the team and the University, and it could mean a lot for the two guys going personally.”
According to McClenney, JM Associates, the company filming the championship for ESPN, is paying for all expenses excluding food.
BassPack won’t, however, have the same luxury when McClenney and vice president Randall Hess drive to Lake Louisville, just north of Dallas, Texas, to compete in the National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship, which will air on Fox Sports Oct. 19-21.
“It’s going to be a completely different situation in Texas,” McClenney said. “When we’re there, we’ll be competing for a $12,500 scholarship to split up among the club.” For both tournaments, BassPack is using a Ranger 519 bass boat donated by Webb’s Fiberglass and Sports, out of Rocky Mount, N.C.
For McClenney, the donated boat shows how far the club has come in only its second year.
“It says that we have enough presence to the point where we are showing signs of life,” he said. “These sponsors want to see that you’re going to help them out, too.”
Despite all its success this year, the club is not officially a member of Club Sports because, according to McClenney, it hasn’t proven it’s organized enough.
But that isn’t stopping its leaders from recruiting new members.
“We don’t turn anyone away,” sophomore member Jason Livingston said. “You don’t have to be a pro fisher to come out and have fun with us.”